Online sales of TCB items at affordable prices start

Aiming at reaching essential products at affordable prices during Ramadan, online sales of four like oil, gram, pulses and sugar of the Trading Corporation of Bangladesh (TCB) have started from Monday.

Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi MP inaugurated the sale of four products of TCB online at a virtual programme on Monday. 

The online sales activity will be conducted under the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce and E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh. 

The initiative was taken by the Ministry of Commerce during the TCB Service Week following the success of online onion sales programme which started September last year. 

Senior Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce Md. Zafar Uddin was the special guest at the inaugural ceremony of the online sale. E-Cab President Shami Kaiser presided over the function.

Commerce minister said, “The success of the initiatives of e-Cab at different times in the last year has not only taken the e-commerce sector to another height but also had an impact on the overall economy of the country. We have tried to cooperate in these works from the Ministry of Commerce.”

The minister thanked all those involved in this activity. He praised the employees involved in the e-commerce delivery service by risking their lives.

Speaking as the special guest, the senior secretary said, "We have made it possible for middle class shoppers to sell TCB products such as oil, sugar, pulses and gram online through e-cab at affordable prices from Monday." 

"TCB's products are subsidized by the government. We hope that the organisations that are responsible for selling these products will focus on poor areas and middle class buyers and ensure that one buyer cannot buy more. For this, the Ministry of Commerce has fixed the price of the product, delivery charge and purchase limit," he added.

AHM Safiquzzaman, chief executive of the programme and additional secretary, (Import and Export Trade) of the Ministry of Commerce said, “Buyers will be able to purchase goods at much lower prices than the market. They can buy oil at Tk 108, gram, sugar and pulses at Tk 58 per kg. Since it has the cooperation of the government, we can only give a certain amount.”

Shami Kaiser, President, e-Cab, said, “The Ministry of Commerce has quickly resolved any issues related to Corona. We have worked from e-cab to keep the price of onion within the reach of the people as there was the fear of hike in price of onion last year. The Ministry of Commerce and TCB have given us the opportunity to do this. I hope, this time our authorized institutions will stand by the side of the people during this holy month of Ramadan to implement this non-profit service.”

Mohammad Abdul Waheed Tamal, General Secretary of e-Cab, said, "We have been supervising the sale of onions online for the last six months with utmost care as per the instructions of the Ministry of Commerce." 

Zia Ashraf, founder of Chaldal and director of e-Cab, said, the online sale of onion started last September. Chaldal has sold 60 percent of the total onions sold online. This time there will be no exception. Packaging of the product may take some time. But from the second day, the buyers will get the product on time. This time we will bring our best service to the doorsteps of the buyers."

However, some companies will not ask for delivery charge. Three companies such as Chaldal, Swapno and One Stop Supershop will sell these products in Dhaka from Monday." 

E-Cab Director Asif Ahnaf presided over the function, while WTO and Cell Director General Md. Hafizur Rahman and TCB Director Moinuddin Ahmed spoke on the occasion.

Also present on the occasion were Hafizur Rahman, Additional Secretary, Export Division, Jahangir Alam Shovon, General Manager, E-Cab, Abdul Aziz, CEO, Jachai.com, Ishrat Jahan Nabila, Director, Chaldal, Shahed Ul Islam, E-Commerce Lead, Swapna.com. Md. Ibrahim Khalil, Chairman, Rural Standing Committee, e-Cab, Ruhul Qudduch Chhotan, Chairman, Brand and Marketing Standing Committee and Mahmud Ur Rahman, DGM, e-Cab.